Safety blow-out



D. F KEITH.

SAFETY BLOW-OUT.

. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 25,1921.

754004441946 DA via Farms Wei??? I m w- UNETEED stares PATENT @FFHQCEO DAVID ronnns KEITH, or roaonro, ONTARIO, CANADA.

SAFETY BLOW-OUT.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 22, 1922.

Application filed March 25, 1921. Serial No. 455,542.

I and Province of Ontario, Canada, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Blow-Outs, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is designed primarily as a safety device for refrigerating-apparatus of the intermittent absorption type invented by the present applicant, such as described in my pending application S. 'N. 438,389, filed Jan. 18, 1921; but the present invention is applicable for service .in connection with any closed receptacle containing fluid under abnormal pressure. The in vention comprises broadly a closed receptacle communicating freely with the main fluid-containing apparatus and having a wall of predetermined thickness and tenacity, weaker than any portion of the main apparatus with which it communicates, and preferably so located as to revent any undesirable eifects attending t e blow-out resulting when the pressure exceeds a predetermined limit. The invention is susceptible of embodiment in various forms; but it will be. best understood in connection with the accompanying drawings and the ensuing description, which set forth a preferred embodiment and arrangement thereof.

In these drawings, Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view, partly in section, showing one manner of mounting the device in connection with a portion of the refrigerating-apparatus invented by the present applicant; and

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional View, on a larger scale, of the device itself.

In these drawings 1 represents a receptacle, in the present instance formed by counterboring a cylindrical block of lead. This receptacle comprises the solid cylindrical end 2 and the reduced side-wall 3; and in the open end of which a disc 4, preferably of steel, is hermetically secured. A piece of steel tubing 5 of suitable dimensions and length is hermetically secured in said steel disc before the latter is mounted in place, and affords communication with main pressure-containing structure, in the present instance in the mercury-valve trap 6 of the refrigerating-apparatus aforesaid. The receptacle 1 is preferably submerged in liquid, such as water, in a suitable cup or depression 7, for example in the water accumulated in the cup located in the working-chamber 8 of said refrigerating-apparatus, the tube 5 being of suitable length to permit such or a similar arrangement.

As one example, it has been found that such a receptacle 1 formed of a lead cylinder about 5/8ths of an inch in external diameter, and having its wall 3 reduced (as by a counterboring tool) to approximately 25/1000ths of an inch in thickness, will rupture at apressure of about 265 pounds per square inch. 0f course the chamber can be made of other shapes than cylindrical, and of other material than specifically lead. But the'use of lead in the form of a. cylinder, and the formation of the cavity within said cylinder by counterboring, will permit the attainment of almost infinitesimal accurac of the thickness (or, rather, the thinness; of the wall 3 to be ruptured. It is further manifest that by making the wall, as 3, thicker or thinner, the pressure withstood without rupturing will be'greater than or less than the figure stated.

Such calibrated receptacle-1 is so readily made with accuracy, and so efiicient, that it is in itself a desirable device, even if not submerged as above indicated, so long as it is placed in a location where the erupting fluid (liquid or gaseous) will do no damage. In the aforesaid refrigerating-apparatus the blow-out receptacle is submerged in the cup or depression 7- carried by the drip pan, and through which passes the waste water from the condenser, and all enclosed within the working-chamber of the refrigerator. Hence, in case of rupture, the fluid, containing more or less ammonia-gas, will merely discharge harmlessly within said enclosed chamber.

The invention has thus been described in full detail, but only for-the sake of clearness; and is not limited to the precise construction and arrangement above set forth, but may be varied largely in shape, material, construction, and arrangement, without in any case departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is: taining apparatus, comprising the combina- 10 1. The combination of a mercury-valve tion of a chamber having a rupturable wall trap forming part of a pressure-containing weaker than the rest of the structure, a system, a repression for holding water, a tubular member for afi'ording communicachamber having a wall of predetermined tion between the interiorof said chamber thinness to be submerged in said water, and and of such pressure-containing apparatus, 15 a tube affording communication between and a body of Water Within which said rupsaid chamber and said trap. turable wall is submerged.

2. A safety blow-out for a pressure-con- DAVID 1F URBES KEITH. 

